Cresting a ten-foot wave, our boat crashed back down to the sea with a massive force, effectively smashing my face with a wall of cold sea water. This has been going on for almost half an hour now and I’m getting sick of wiping salt water off my face. The thought of sitting out front seemed like a good idea when we sailed off from the port of San Vicente, it definitely didn’t seem like a good one now. Another wave came into view. We climbed. We crested. We slammed. Wipe. Repeat.

NAVIGATING THE ROUGH WATERS OF PALAUI

Our Palaui Island tour wasn’t a hundred percent sealed even as our Lakbay Norte bus drove to Sta. Ana’s wharf. It was drizzling and the sky didn’t seem to approve of us boarding the outrigger boats dancing lightly on the choppy shoreline. We waited a few minutes for the coast guards’ verdict. And it’s a go.

I didn’t know if I should be glad or not.

House after house, alley after alley, we saw the same thing. Clay makers. The whole town seemed busy mashing, kneading, molding and drying all things clay. Most do it on their front yards, some on their porch—their kids looking on—and a few, right out on the street.

MAKING POTTERY IS A NORMAL DAY TO DAY THING IN BARANGAY ATULU

I’ve seen a few pottery centers in the country, from Vigan’s pagburnayan to Antique’s Tibiao clay pottery, but the scale of pottery production in Iguig is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Everyone seemed hell-bent on mashing these earthen lumps into something more useful. And surprisingly, I didn’t see a single potter’s wheel to mold their clay with. The Itawes of Iguig uses their bare hands, with the aid of simple wooden implements, to form these into jars, vases and even stoves and oven!

1581 marked the year that Spanish conquistadors set foot in Cagayan. Sent forth by the fourth Governor-General of the Philippines, a host of Spaniards marched through the valleys of Cagayan, together with their families, spreading the Catholic faith amongst the locals and building massive brick churches along the way.

OUR LADY OF PIAT’S RETABLO

To be honest, the first thing that comes to my mind when one mentions Cagayan aren’t really old churches, but noodles, their delectable pancit batil patong, to be precise. But as fate would have it, that same noodle dish is forever linked with an old church where it is most popular. The first time I asked locals in Tuguegarao where I could find a mean dish of pancit batil patong, they all referred me to one place, the street adjacent to the old church.

A spread of pancit bihon, steamed veggies, barbecued pork liempo, lumpiang shanghai, salted eggs and buro on fresh banana leaf greeted us at Crystal Waves Resort in Nueva Ecija. It was lunchtime and we’re expecting a Jollibee meal, the spread was an unexpected suprise, it’s gonna be a boodle fight for us! Superb as the food was, this was but ordinary. During our two-day Lakbay Norte 6 romp across the province of Nueva Ecija, we’ve come across dishes and snacks most people would probably find quite weird—but for certified foodies, weird is good.

The landlocked province of Nueva Ecija isn’t really the first thing that would come to mind when one plans for an out of town trip. Heck, what can you even do there? That’s the usual thing I get when asked about my home province. And to be fair, I can’t really give a big-ass concrete answer. My mom’s home province is so laid back that until you really try and probe its farm-filled landscapes, you’d be hard-pressed to come up with any interesting things to do.

But yes, I just found out that there are more remarkable places to visit at Nueva Ecija besides those I’ve already listed on my Nueva Ecija Travel Guide. The next time you pass by the province en route to popular tourist places like Baler, Banaue, Sagada and Tuguegarao City, try to stop, spend a night and see what this quiet pastoral province is all about.